＊＊＊
Nick Fury was far from happy. This state of affairs was a regular occurrence, to be fair. Mostly because the world itself seemed dead set on pissing him off - stumbling around like a drunk toddler, setting fires that inevitably only he was called on to deal with. SHIELD was becoming more essential for every year that passed by - two threats appearing for every one they neutralized.
And the governments of the world seemed perfectly happy to stick their heads in the sand - when they weren't actively fanning the damn flames. Fuck the governments, Fury would be happy if Thaddeus Ross stopped being such a giant pain in the ass. Did the man have any idea how hard it was to cover up for his jaunts across borders, all filled with collateral damage? It's why he needed something like the Avengers initiative, at least it would cut down on collateral damage, right?
He stowed the irritation as his next appointment walked in without as much as a knock, Natasha Romanoff - One of the only times a threat had successfully been turned into a useful asset. Actually lessening his headaches. Barton deserved a raise for that achievement alone. Not that he was getting one, Fury didn't want the agent to get too smug. Now if he could do it again, maybe he'd get a pat on the back, once could be a fluke after all. He'd just order Coulson to do the patting - he had a reputation to uphold.
"Romanoff." He said neutrally, a finger a hair's breadth away from a button that would electrify the area in front of his desk, lethally for anyone else, but she'd probably survive. Paranoia was fully justified when everyone was out to get you. And there was always the possibility her turn to SHIELD was just a Black Widow long op. Doubtful, as she'd taken down Dreykov - but anything that wasn't at a level of zero probability, meant there was a possibility, however slight.
Damn it, nowadays he even had contingencies in case he himself turned out to be a Skrull… Maybe if he was he'd get rid of the motherfucking headache.
"Boss, got something for me?" The Black Widow said playfully, the woman no doubt fully aware of where Fury's hand was, but likely approving of the caution. The woman seemed to get off on throwing off anyone's perceptions, and her regular amusement at everyone's caution wasn't winning her any friends in SHIELD.
Considering the woman barely tolerated anyone not named Coulson or Barton, Fury considered himself lucky there hadn't been any incidents yet. Broken bones didn't count, that's basically playground scuffles as far as he was concerned.
"Maybe you'll get somewhere, the analysts can't make heads or tails of it, so I'm sending you in." Fury said, sliding a file across the desk. Somewhat annoyed at the ease and grace in which the woman slid down into a seat and flipped open the first page, a raised eyebrow her only expression.
"Justin Hammer? The industrialist, isn't he simply Tony Stark without the…" She made a motion with her hand, "Everything?" Romanoff asked, while her eyes moved rapidly, devouring the file.
Fury grunted in annoyance, "He used to be a hell of a lot less annoying then Stark." He gestured to the file, "Then he pulled all this shit, meeting with black market arms dealers like Ulysses Klaue, spending billions on factories and new companies that's standing practically empty…"
"Like he's waiting for something. Preparing." Romanoff muttered, a glint of interest in her eyes. "He's recruiting heavily." She noted, having gotten to the end of the file. Hammer industries and its newly created subsidiaries were hiring at an intense pace. Even the lowest positions come with heavy duty NDA's for all employees too, which was odd.
Janitors needing to sign three different NDA's was new, even SHIELD wasn't that pedantic. Their Janitors only needed to sign two.
"Yeah, but for what?" Fury said seriously, his one eye meeting hers and impressing the seriousness of the mission. "What does Hammer know that we don't?" Because damn it, no one spent that kind of money for no reason! And he refused to believe the man had a mental breakdown like the press was starting to say. In his experience things were never that easy.
"Or what is he intending to start?" Romanoff said softly, "With the weaponry he has available…" She let the thought trail off.
Which really put another point of view of why the man would meet with scum like Klaue, didn't it? Fury did not need a major weapons manufacturer supplying terrorists - they were a pain in the ass enough without that kind of support. "Find out, get close to the man, do your thing, Widow, we can't be blind on this one, Hammer is up to something, and we need to know, yesterday!" Fury ordered impassively, mind already turning to the fires fanning another Balkan war instead - Like anyone needed that, the place was already a mess, which was now his mess. The Black Widow didn't fail missions, one way or another, he didn't need to worry about Hammer any longer.
It wouldn't be the first time a CEO had to be removed for the world's best interest. If Hammer wasn't on the up and up - he'd have an accident.
Either way, bye, bye headache.
＊＊＊
"Bakshi, is this really the best we could do?" Justin said with disappointment, gesturing to the surroundings of the warehouse. Having just walked in with his retinue. "These are valuable and important friends of ours, this is hardly a five star treatment, man." The warehouse was dark and dreary and hardly could be considered clean, except for the sectioned off and sterilized center section - that was holding his valued guests.
This was an unacceptable rush job. They should have been able to do better. After all they'd had to organize a prison break and everything - how hard was it to clean up a warehouse.
"My apologies sir, our assets in the Russian Federation are limited." Sunil Bakshi said deferentialy, following a step behind him. Already tapping away at a tablet, "Once we move to the facility in the UK, the situation should improve markedly."
'I'll hold you to that buddy," Justin said, clapping the man on the shoulders, before resuming his pace towards the center of the warehouse. Where a medical station was set up, the station was covered by layers of plastic sheets to keep it contained as best as possible for their location. All of it for treating Anton Vanko, a full team of the best doctors money could buy crowding the sickly man. His son Ivan sitting at his bedside holding his hand, his sharp eyes having been focused on Justin since he entered.
"Ivan, terribly sorry for the accomodation, we'll have that fixed by the time you reach your destination." Justin said confidently, swaggering up to the group of people, coming to a stop just outside the treatment area. "Don't worry, your dad will have the best treatment possible."
Ivan snorted bitterly, "Treatment no matter, can't be fixed so easy." He let out a slow deep breath, a pained expression on his face,"Slow death."
Justin tilted his head, making a considering noise, "Don't be so quick to give up, my friend! I have something in the works…" Justin eyed the doctors, raising an eyebrow towards Ivan while gesturing to the side. The doc's were his, but there was no need to share more than necessary with the peons.
Especially things like Extremis and what he'd need Ivan to do. Those secrets were literally world altering. Something that would make earth something more than the backwater redneck planet you could roll up to and knock over whenever you wanted.
Ivan gave him a long look, before he untangled his fingers from his father's, and lumbered over, separating far enough from the bundle of people that they couldn't be overheard. All the noise of the machines keeping Anton Vanko alive ensured there would be no eavesdropping. Justin eyed the prison tats with distaste, although the man didn't have as many as of yet as he would have had in Iron Man 2, it still gave a bit of a thug look.
"Alright, Ivan, look you're a smart man, you know I'm not saving daddy dearest out of the goodness of my heart,"Justin said, putting his hands on his heart for emphasis. "I want you, I need you," His hands raised up to encapsulate the space around the man's head for a moment as he exclaimed, "And that big beautiful brain of yours!"
"What for?" Ivan asked suspiciously, taking a step away from Justin and his theatrics, "You break me out of Siberia, take my father, "He grinned somewhat grimly, "Very good for me, I think. But not… So good for you."
"Very good for me, buddy." Justin insisted, flashing a confident smile. "Look, Ivan, we grabbed everything your daddy had when we took him, we know of his collaboration with Stark on the arc reactor." He didn't get to continue further at that point, Vanko immediately reacting.
"Stark!" Ivan spat, face turning malicious, teeth grinding together, "Don't speak to me about Stark!" his muscles rippled as he unconsciously flexed his hands and arms, Justin's hand immediately rose up, preventing Bakshi from stepping in.
Justin looked at his assistant and right hand man for a moment, a small smile playing on his lip, "Everywhere I go, this is the reaction I get." He said, splaying his arms out, shaking his head, "Tony Stark, universally hated."
Bakshi chuckled lightly, while watching Vanko with shrewd eyes, "To be fair, sir. The man is supposedly extremely annoying. I haven't had the pleasure of meeting the man myself." He admitted, eyes never leaving Vanko, watching for clues the man would move into action.
"Trust me, It's not a pleasure." Justin and Ivan said at the same time, one with a pained frown, the other with a dark scowl. Huh, has Ivan actually met Tony? That's… New. He'd have to make a note to look into that…
"A man after my own heart." Justin said smartly, clapping Ivan on the shoulder, the man eyeing his hand with a dark look. Justin ignored it, the man would be eating out of his hands soon enough. No one could withstand his charm… Or the amount of money he was fucking shoving down their throats.
He'd seriously be bankrupt within a year and a half at the latest if his plans fizzled out. It might have been smarter to take a slower approach… But well, Alien invasions. Plural.
"What you want with Tony Stark, the butcher of America?" Ivan asked bluntly, eyes flickering back towards his father, for a moment.
Justin smirked, "I want to embarrass him on the world stage, emasculate him, have him come begging to me…" He said with relish, definitely noting a spark of interest in Ivan's dark eyes.
"Not so easy thing to do." Ivan said distastefully. His posture was getting more wary, as he eyed Justin, and the team of heavily armed security he'd brought with him. Bakshi poised and tense at Justin's side.
"Ivan, Ivan, Ivan." Justin tsked, "We have everything we need to make the arc reactor work. And it will be you and your father's name on it when we revolutionize the energy market." And his own, but no need to go into small details at the moment, it would just confuse matters.
Ivan scoffed, "Not enough Palladium in the world to make work, no money for you."
Oh, sweet summer child, welcome to the future! Justin thought, barely able to hold back a cackle. He grinned viciously, "Too true, but what if I have the blueprints for an entirely new element? One able to run an arc reactor easily? One we can synthesize ourselves, the entire supply belonging to us!"
Sending Domino had been a brilliant stroke, she'd literally walked in and found the Stark expo model within minutes, a lucky distraction managed to both knock the cameras in the building out, as well as distract all the staff, as she rolled it out and made it off with it.
How exactly a whole flock of farm animals managed to make it into the building and chew through wires and run amok, Justin could not understand, other than chalking it up to Domino's powers being one hell of a deux ex machina.
No matter what he did in his bid for world domination - hiring Domino might remain his best choice throughout it all.
She and Phantazia were currently not with him for once, Vanko was hardly a threat without a suit, his 'normal' security detail good enough for this meet and greet. Bakshi alone was a former member of SAS, and definitely capable of taking down Vanko if necessary.
Ivan who'd been about to return to his father, already dismissive of the conversation, paused. Turning calculating eyes on Justin. "Why not do it yourself?" He asked, curious despite his obvious dislike of the situation. He was a proud man, obviously not too charmed with the idea of being bought. Justin would still win him over though.
Mostly because he needed the man more than anything. Other people could take over the work eventually. But to start it, he needed a man who could do it - 100 percent for sure. He wasn't above taking the man's father hostage if all else fails.
Justin chuckled, putting an arm around Ivan, who seemed puzzled and irritated at the action, "I hardly have the time to do all the science myself, buddy, and besides, your old man got fucked by Stark Sr, it's poetic to have you come back and fuck Stark Jr over. How can I say no to that?" And he'd be sure to tell Ivan to double cycle, Stark was the gift that kept giving.
He had plans for arc reactor technology. Forget the fact that it alone would revolutionize the energy market across the world. What about batteries built for and charged by arc reactors during production? Phones and tablets that never needed to be charged during the electronics lifetime, or at least until they bought the new version. Electric vehicles with batteries that only needed to go recharge at a Hammer owned facility every few years - or to just have to replace the battery now and then. And that was just the tip of the iceberg. What about weapons with arc reactor batteries as a power source. The sky was the limit. The phase 2 Tesseract guns could be humanity's regular weaponry, with him as the only supplier. When aliens rolled up, they'd find it much more difficult to knock them over, and the world wouldn't have to completely count on a few super humans who couldn't even work together in face of extinction.
And the best part would be - that Stark could never completely catch up on the market. Not legally. Because Justin would have the patent for the arc reactor - because the confident Stark idiots had never bothered filing for a comprehensive patent. He'd also have the new element that was going to be the solution to Stark's palladium poisoning once that happened. Oh, to see him use Justin's work to solve the riddle of his heart. Or the fact that by the time Iron man left his cave - he'd have to ask Justin for permission to use an arc reactor for his suit, even though he built it himself!
Justin would allow it of course, while constantly publishing the fact that Iron Man only existed due to HammerTech. Oh how sweet it would be… Well... That was mostly fantasy... Tony couldn't sell it any time soon, but he could certainly use it for himself. But the thought was nice to have.
Stark could create a StarkPhone eventually that outshone what Justin could do, he's certainly enough of a genius, Justin had to admit. Given enough time, he'll knock something out. But he could not use arc reactor technology to make them last like Justin could. That alone would gain him a majority of the market no matter what gadgets Stark rolled out. And the more his technology entered every aspect of the average citizen's life, the more StarkTech would be a niche market.
He was an engineer, he knew the batteries would be a possibility, especially with Vanko working on it all already - well, shortly. It would only go further once he got his hands on some of the other useful people that could push his world domination further.
Tony had been too afraid of what the world could do with his technology. A foolish idea with what's out there. Justin would put it all out there. No one could make those batteries and other tech without his arc reactors anyway. And he'd make it a condition for any country wanting them - that they would be fully run by his people, and protected by his security forces, or they weren't getting an arc reactor. Thereby safeguarding the tech, but mostly ensuring no competitor could use it.
As none but him would be able to synthesize the element for them anyway, the world would have to count on Justin Hammer, they'd be dependent on him. All of them. From the United States of America to China.
"What do you say, Ivan. Want to get some Nobel prizes while making Tony Stark eat shit?" Justin asked, a malicious little smirk on his face, "Just picture getting a nobel prize at the same time as we release the information Stark has been sitting on this technology for decades - his old man getting yours deported to continue to hide it from the masses, wanting it just for themselves." With the media, the first spin usually got the win - no matter if it was entirely true or not. And the media loved to dump on Stark to begin with.
He'd have to spend some money and resources on sanitizing Vanko's history, so that there would be no proof his winning scientist had been in prison for selling plutonium to terrorists, that would be bad press. But Russia was practically built for taking money to make things disappear.
The growing grin on Ivan's face told Justin he'd almost won the man over. Now it only remained to see how quickly he could deliver. Because Justin had no doubt he could. He'd managed a miniaturized arc reactor without the resources Justin had behind him.
"What about my father?" Ivan asked, sobering slightly. Not quite ready to take the leap with the uncertainty of his father's health.
Justin waved to Bakshi, who obligingly held out the tablet, "Let me tell you about this little thing we're working on called, Extremis. Hot stuff, like literally."
As Ivan's face lit up as he read more and more on the research and the alleged capabilities of Extremis, Justin knew he'd not only won the man over. But he'd sown the seed of complete loyalty. And if Extremis won't be ready on time… Well he'd replace every organ in the damn man's body if he needed to for keeping Vanko happy.
Ivan Vanko was the golden goose. Justin would not make any mistakes in failing in keeping him happy and laying eggs.
＊＊＊
As he got on his private plane, Domino the only one escorting him, he felt very pleased with himself. Bakshi and Phantazia would stay with the Vanko's for now, ensuring they got where they needed to go smoothly - the rest of his security detail remaining behind as well, as he'd pick up another team on landing and hardly needed them in the air. Phantazia would ensure nothing touched his golden goose or his sickly father. He took a load off, enjoying the silence and relaxed atmosphere as the plane took off, leaving the cold and sterile landscape of Russia behind.
The facility in Britain was not only completely hidden. It was state of the art. It had better security than anything below Hammer himself. Including a safe room that could take a nuke. The Stark expo model was already there and scanned into the system, waiting for Vanko to take a crack at solving the new element. He had faith he would succeed. Either way, even without it, they could begin on creating and fine-tuning the actual arc reactors, both large and miniaturized. After all, they'd likely need a palladium style arc reactor to be able to synthesize the new element to begin with. Justinium didn't sound so bad, did it?
He'd have to begin the circuit of Senators and Governors and see where exactly he could get an Arc reactor power plant facility started - without actually revealing to anyone that's what it was until 2008. It would take that long to build no doubt anyway, but it would be disastrous if Stark found out at this juncture. He'd have to find someone that really hated Stark. To ensure there were no faults, the situation in Colorado with Stark swooping in - couldn't be allowed to happen in this instance.
"You missed one doozy of a meet and greet, Domino." Justin said, undoing his tie and learning back on the couch. Phantazia having taken the woman shopping while he met with the Vanko's, Justin had his entire security team with him in a secret location - he could afford to give them some time off.
"Oh, you poor thing, the meet and greet is right now!" She said, laughing lightly, confusing Justin for a moment, until he met her eyes, which were turning golden, her skin gradually turning blue as she sensually sat down ahead of him, even going so far as to do jazz hands at him, a small amused look on her face.
"Mystique…" Justin swore, immediately hitting the panic button hidden in one of his cufflinks. Domino and Phantazia were never getting time off again. How the fuck did she manage to slip into his detail without anyone realizing Domino was elsewhere.
Mystique smiled mysteriously, "You know me by sight, Eileen was right, you are an interesting one."
Justin forcibly calmed himself, he'd understood Phantazia had ties to the brotherhood of mutants, but he had not expected this… in the back of his mind several strategies to neutralize his bodyguard immediately started percolating.
"Don't look so constipated, she didn't betray you. She simply shared her new interesting employment, which made us look further into you. You've been a busy man, Justin." Mystique said, now fully in her natural form, a tantalizing smirk on her face, "Like what you see, huh?" She laughed a clear bell-like laugh at spotting his automatic once over, uncrossing her legs and leaning forward. "Justin Hammer, a mutant lover?" She teased, a dangerous, heated look in her eyes.
"Mystique." A cold clipped voice rebuked. And Justin felt a chill up his spine at the same time as Mystique straightened up and gained an impassive facade which lasted for just a moment, before she winked cheekily at Justin and hopped off her chair, doing a languid cat-like stretch. Justin might have watched something like that with interest, if he wasn't so totally focused on the man who'd spoken.
Magneto walked out of the pilot area, striding forward with confidence. He looked very similar to his onscreen representation, old and dignified. Although there must be some fuckery with mutants dna or just him - because a concentration camp survivor shouldn't still be looking as spry as he did. He had to be pushing 70, but he barely looked 50. Thankfully he wore a simple tuxedo instead of a battle suit, missing the customary Xavier proof helmet as well.
For the first time since becoming Justin Hammer, he felt full of fear. He was in a metal tube in the air, with Magneto. The master of magnetism. His bodyguards left behind. "Erik Lensherr I presume." He managed to croak out, attempting to keep his cool.
It probably didn't work very well if the pithy look he received from Mystique was any indication.
Magneto sat down, a chair casually ripped off its metal plating and zooming underneath him as he sat down, arriving perfectly in time. A very casual and effective power move. "Justin Hammer. You've drawn my attention." He stated simply. His voice stern, authoritative and to the point.
Justin felt the beads of sweat materializing on his forehead as he tried to remain calm, sitting up more formally, wishing he hadn't undone his tie. "I was unaware that I had interfered in any of your operations, if so, it certainly wasn't my intention." He tried diplomatically. If he'd known Magneto was around, or interested in any of his latest purchases - he'd have backed off so fast he'd be on the other side of the planet before he stopped running.
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Mystique laughed again, moving to stand next to Magneto's seat, draping herself over him, her arms hanging loosely around his neck, "Oh, cutie, you couldn't interfere with us if you tried." She said with clear amusement.
Magneto inclined his head slightly, ignoring his ally, "You act like a man possessed, Mister Hammer. One perhaps blessed with… A certain foresight." He said leadingly.
Justin froze minisculely, before forcing himself into moving, his hands coming up and removing his glasses, giving himself a moment of time as he rubbed his eyes in apparent tiredness. "I move my business interests as needed for future innovations, yes." He said, placing his glasses back on, heart sinking as he realized neither of the two mutants would accept the answer.
"Cute. B - for the effort at least." Mystique said flippantly. "I'd advise you not to lie again, hmm…" She leaned forward over Magneto's shoulder, "Or you'll find out how dying slowly as every breath is drawn out of you, feels like." She said, tilting her head cutely, winking at him.
Justin eyed Magneto and Mystique warily, there was possibly… Perhaps… An opportunity here. As he tried his best to ignore that literal death threat and the weird flirty way it was delivered. Although he hardly wanted to share some of what he knew. There were certain events that would perhaps not be entirely disadvantageous to reveal. "I have received some future knowledge, yes." He admitted with a bone weary sigh. Better to cooperate slightly, then to risk pissing Magneto off.
Justin was willing to fight quite a lot of people, his knowledge and resources allowing him to have an advantage most of the time. Magneto was on a list of - do not fuck with. With such names as Doctor Doom and Thanos. There's a reason he was perfectly willing to let Stark become Iron Man, let that lunatic fight to the death with the villain of the month. So cooperation it was - to a point.
"I thought so. You act like a man possessed with glorious purpose." Magneto said slowly. Forcing Justin to contain his reaction because that sentence struck a little too close to home. Does he have a pocket seer? That would be… Horrible for me!
"So no torture or death…" Mystique said disappointedly, acting overly dramatic, pouting, laying her head on-top of Magneto's, resting it in his hair. Magneto not batting an eyelash, sitting rigidly, cold calculating eyes watching Justin.
What the fuck kind of Mystique is this? Justin thought incredulously. Magneto seemed fairly standard from what he remembered from the X-Men universe or comics (Scary as fuck) - but Mystique seemed a little too… Harley Quinn. It was throwing him off.
"What event are you preparing for, I wonder…?" Magneto asked softly, eyes flashing, as he raised a finger, a sliver of metal tearing out of his chair, creating a simple needle that hovered in the air in between them.
Justin suddenly realized exactly why he'd drawn Magneto's attention. The man suspected Justin was preparing for war with the mutants! "Alien invasion." He blurted out, eyes on the spinning needle growing slowly closer. Now was not a time for holding back. If Magneto thought one of the largest weapons manufacturing powers in the world was gearing up to combat mutants he would die, no ifs and buts.
"Pull the other one." Mystique said, rolling her eyes. "You expect us to believe that?"
Magneto raised a hand, the needle stopping its slow death spiral Justin's way. Mystique looked down at her ally and master, "What, Erik, really?" She exclaimed in honest surprise.
Or at least it looked honest. With who Mystique was and her skill in subterfuge, Justin honestly had no idea if anything she was doing was just an act or not. Something that made him very uncomfortable.
"Not many are aware, but there are not only aliens out there, they are aware of this planet. There was an incursion by a species called the Kree in the 90's." Magneto said, piercing eyes meeting Justin's, "Give me the details." He ordered sharply, expecting to be obeyed.
Justin was confused as to how in the hell Magneto was in the know about the Captain Marvel affair, but that was for another time, he met the man's eyes, steeling himself, "The information I have is about an invasion through a portal in 2012 in New York." Just don't ask how I know…
"How do you know that?" Mystique asked skeptically, "It's very specific for an event six years from now…" She snapped her teeth twice, loudly. "Wouldn't be lying now would you, Justin, I could do far worse than a love bite, you know?"
Justin couldn't catch a break with these two… And Mystique was freaking him the fuck out, what the hell was up with this whole thing.
Magneto tilted his head down slightly, eyes narrowed, "Answer the question," He ordered clippedly.
Justin was in a bit of a pickle here. He could hardly lie and claim to have encountered a seer of some sort. Magneto would want them. Neither could he reveal all about who or what he himself was, that just seemed incredibly foolish - like kidnapped by Magneto and pumped for everything he knew, kind of foolish.
"I received some very detailed visions about this specific event only while working on a new element." Justin let out grudgingly after a minute of silence, lying his ass off. "All my moves have been based on knowledge of technology and people I received for this one event." There, if they accept that… I only need to reveal the events of the Chitauri invasion.
"Why you?" Magneto asked, showing no reaction to his story, nor did Mystique who for once decided to be entirely neutral in body language and facial cues, which made things further difficult for Justin as he wasn't sure whether they'd bought that or not.
Justin spread his arms out, "I'm me, an industrialist able to take advantage of the knowledge to prepare humanity for aliens attempting to subjugate us." Please buy it…
"Why not Tony Stark?" Mystique jumped in to ask, drawing an annoyed eye twitch from Justin. "Never mind," She corrected herself immediately, "He'd probably have ignored the vision as a drug-addled dream." She joked, drawing a tiny agreeing smile from Justin, almost against his will. He could always appreciate a Tony Stark put down.
"The invasion is very localized…" Justin said slowly, sounding it out like he'd just thought of something, "Someone could gather a lot of public goodwill if they saved New York from an alien armada…"
Magneto raised an eyebrow, a cold smile on his face, "A pitifully transparent attempt, Mister Hammer." He chided. "I will decide my own movements, I do not need your input." His eyes narrowed dangerously, "Only your full and truthful cooperation."
No matter what he tried to hold back, in the end Justin was forced to reveal most of the actual events of the Avengers movie. Including Loki and the formation of the Avengers. Although he managed to exclude Captain America's name. He didn't need Magneto to somehow go intervene there. He'd put Tony Stark as a technology consultant, if nothing else ensuring Magneto had no reason to go clean him off the board or anything similarly catastrophic to Justin's plans.
So Magneto now knew of the Chitauri, when they'd arrive, where they'd arrive, and about Thor and Loki and who would fight against the Chitauri invasion, ( Generally, not too many details, thankfully he'd been able to hide the information about Thanos and the Tesseract as Magneto hadn't asked, so he didn't have to lie.) Justin hadn't revealed that the invasion was handily defeated either, claiming his vision never saw a conclusion, just the beginning.
He couldn't risk mentioning the nuke, Magneto might intervene to let it happen. It wouldn't exactly be a bad outcome for the brotherhood if the humans nuked their own people like that. The division it would sow would only benefit Magneto.
Magneto calmly threatened Justin several times during the conversation, mentioning it like another man might ask if he liked biscuits. But at least the longer the conversation lasted, the more it seemed Magneto at least partly believed him and wouldn't kill him needlessly.
Eventually Magneto was satisfied, giving Justin a short nod, and thankfully for his blood pressure… He returned to the pilot area instead of spending the rest of the flight hanging out. Which also made Justin wonder who exactly was piloting the plane, because surely it wasn't his pilots.
Not that he could exactly blame them if they had Magneto standing over them giving orders.
He eyed Mystique who took the seat Magneto vacated, draping herself over it. This was going to be an awkward flight…
"So, ever tasted mutant before?" Mystique asked suggestively, idly raising a leg straight back up, putting her foot behind her head, her eyes glinting teasingly.
"Seriously, what's wrong with you!?" Justin complained, making a gesture to where Magneto had just left, after threatening him quite clearly, eyes drawn almost against his will to her body and the flexibility promised within her movements. It was hard to look away, it was all literally on display.
Mystique shrugged, running a hand tantalizingly slowly up her torso and the curve of her breasts, "It's a seven hour flight, a girl can only read so many magazines." She suggested. "I could show you so many things…" She leered invitingly at him. Briefly her face turned into that of Pepper Potts, before bleeding back into her own signature blue hue.
Justin gulped, certainly interested, despite himself, but his survival instincts screamed at him what a bad idea that was. "I'm not Tony Stark." He managed to grind out between clenched teeth. "And you just infiltrated my security and threatened to kill me!" Several times, actually…
Mystique pouted, eyes alight with amusement, "And you don't find that in any way… Arousing?" She teased breathlessly, leaning forward, biting her lip.
Justin firmly shook his head no. Doing his best to ignore Mystique's tinkling laugh at that. He had standards. People threatening to kill him were on his definitive do not sleep with list.
He had standards. Really.
….
After they landed in America, seven hours later, and Mystique and Magneto disappeared, Justin felt quite proud of himself for it all.
He'd lasted a full hour and a half before he'd succumbed to the temptress and her siren song. Which had been…
Well… Mystique might have ruined sex with other women for him now, which was unfortunate, as he definitely did not dare to go anywhere near Magneto ever again if he had his way. Hopefully Xavier will put the man in prison before 2012… Although then he faced the possibility the magnetism master would tell his old friend about the invasion, and Justin did not want Xavier anywhere near him.
He just hoped Mystique had truly just been bored and wanted a distraction for a few hours. Because if she'd been ordered to seduce him, he'd see her again.
And he didn't know if he could say no to that.
He pulled out his phone, he had a security detail and a pair of bodyguards to yell at severely. And they'd need to start using pass codes and secret hand signals or something to prevent a shape shifting situation from happening again. That flight could have ended a lot worse.
And he'd need to call a discreet cleaning service for a rush job, because if Domino and Phantazia went near this plane before it got a deep cleaning - he'd never hear the end of it from either of them. As far as he was concerned this all never happened.
Phantazia… He'd have to interrogate her through Domino, but he actually believed the pair of mutants when they said they'd approached him solely on his actions drawing attention, not her reporting on him. The read he'd had on Eileen to begin with was that the woman would remain loyal once bought.
Truly with someone like Mystique, they hardly needed a spy. Also if Phantazia truly had been spying, Magneto would have had more information then he had.
Still. Best to put Domino on it, see if she'd be lucky and draw out a different answer. Trust but verify was a saying for a reason.
What was his life even anymore?
God damn mutants complicating things.
At least New York was likely to be interesting this time around…
He pitied the Chitauri really. Magneto would not be a nice welcome for them this time around.
＊＊＊
2007 rolled in without much notice, Justin was still busy flying all over the world, making deals and setting things up for the future.
Vanko had not managed to crack Justinium yet, but he'd managed to build an Arc reactor just fine - so the plan was still a go. Even without the new element, Justin started in on the plans for an Arc reactor power plant. Eventually breaking ground just after the new year in Texas.
The new Governor loathed Stark for sleeping with his daughter, so Justin could count on his silence on the project. Other than the Governor no one else - outside Justin's own company - knew what was being built. The Governor's own people and the state legislature were only aware Hammer industries had a contract to build a facility in their state, labeled 'multipurpose'. At the same time, Justin went on a shopping spree across the rest of the states, drawing attention, hoping that if Stark was paying attention - he'd focus on that instead of some random building project in Texas.
Ellis was also running for President now, so Justin made sure to spend, spend, spend on that, as well as making appearances for fundraisers and dinners. Let Stark think it's all about politics and greasing the wheels, the more he looked at Justin, the less he'd look at what Justin wanted to keep hidden. And with how much Justin was spending people would be looking at him. And as long as they were focused on him, and not what his people were pulling off in the background, that was fine.
There was a reason a majority of his plans and orders were actually put down in writing or on a closed internal system only - through Bakshi via burner phones, usually. He didn't want to leave an electronic trail for Jarvis to find if Tony let him off the leash and the AI actually hacked into Hammer industries.
He'd have his own countermeasures for that soon enough.
Domino had cleared Phantazia at least, so Justin had managed to avoid that particular headache. Although new security protocols had needed to be instituted in case of future shape shifting issues. It also put into perspective how dangerously easy it could still be to destroy him, if any particularly strong villains or heroes made the attempt.
Domino and Phantazia could shut down most attempts, but as the situation with Magneto showed, they couldn't always be available - and likewise they wouldn't be able to stop someone like Magneto raining fire from a distance either. Domino would survive it, but Justin wasn't sure that luck would extend to him for such a barrage. Planning for Magneto was almost pointless, but he could plan for anyone else.
He needed his own team. A counterpoint to the Avengers or the villain of the month. A team that would in itself prevent people from trying to get him. Something that would keep organizations like SHIELD and HYDRA from trying anything overt in regards to him.
Justin was an engineer. And with the power of an arc reactor, and admittedly some help from Vanko in working out the kinks. He'd managed to create something to allow his team some firepower - and the start of his own eventual privatized Avengers. The Abomination had turned out to be an alright bloke eventually, right? So he might even be able to get his own Hulk on the team.
He was almost giddy in excitement as he walked down the hallways of his special projects lab in Arkansas, two specialists he'd headhunted especially for this job following him.
He turned to face them, walking backwards, almost bouncing in his excitement, "Are you excited? I'm excited, this is big, boys!"
"I want to know what managed to earn me a six figures paycheck." Brock Rumlow said agreeably.
Justin had literally poached him, minutes away from the man signing on for SHIELD, waving an enormous paycheck and high-tech gear in front of his face. The man was not yet the HYDRA brute he'd become without Justin's intervention, but his skills and his obviously strong will would serve Justin well. The man that would have become Crossbones had survived a building falling on him and continued on, undaunted. Granted, as a terrorist, but that strong will and fighting spirit impressed Justin either way.
They all had some skeletons in the closet, and he wasn't even a terrorist yet, so no biggie!
"Oh it will be worth it, you're going to love it!" Justin promised, giddy, as he looked towards his other specialist, "Come on man, smile!" Justin shot him the finger guns, winking, "This is the first day of the rest of your life, buddy!"
Frank Castle simply raised an unimpressed eyebrow. "I'll smile once you've delivered, I don't trust suits." He grumbled, hands in his pockets as he walked on.
Justin chuckled but left the man alone. If Rumlow had an impressive will, it was nothing compared to the sheer determination of the Punisher. Justin had gotten to him before he became the Punisher to be fair, but that didn't change the underlying strength of character and will. Obviously Justin would make sure the man's family was protected to hell and back so the future issues wouldn't happen, something which had bought the man's begrudging interest, even if he probably wouldn't face the same threat now - not that he knew anyway, what exactly Justin had saved him or his family from by changing his life. The money was just the cherry on top to really sell the contract.
Of course the man was still serving in the military doing tours still in Iraq and Afghanistan when Justin had come knocking, but he had simply bought out his contract, it paid to have connections with generals and politicians. Frank Castle had been given a medal and sent on his way, right into Justin's waiting arms.
They reached the end of the hallway, a large vault door blocking their way. If it was slightly reminiscent of a fallout vault… Well what was the point of having money if you didn't geek out and had fun with it?
Justin patted the door, flashing another smile at the two men, "Ready, gentlemen?" He asked, rubbing his hands together gleefully.
"I was born ready, hit me boss!" Rumlow said with an easy grin, knocking his shoulder against Frank's, "Look alive, Castle!"
Frank sent him an annoyed side glance, "We're not buddies, Rumlow." He cracked his neck, impassive eyes staring straight ahead, "Just get on with it, Hammer."
"You have no sense of drama, man!" Justin complained, shaking his head, before he unceremoniously slammed his hand into a fingerprint reader, the scanner flashing green. The vault door slowly receded, the darkness beyond not allowing any clue of what hid in the room.
Suddenly the lights turned on at the moment the vault door had receded completely, two giant spotlights lighting up two spots at the center of the vault. The three men standing at the threshold, as the room was revealed.
"Behold, the Scorpion!" Justin exclaimed, flinging out his left hand, showcasing the giant black and dark green Scorpion armor, an arc reactor planted in its chest glowing brightly. It looked brutal, all sharp edges, bulk and lethality. A real tank - but with power of quick movement and the nice surprise in the agile tail.
His right hand flung out dramatically, he was honestly having the time of his life, "Behold, the Vulture!" A gleaming green armor with wings was showcased, also with an arc reactor in its chest. The sleek, futuristic looking armor was still able to take plenty of abuse despite its lighter look. While the Scorpion was a tank of an armor, the Vulture was more a mix of the actual Vulture armor and the War Machine armor.
Justin quickly stepped into the room, making his way to the Vulture armor, "This baby can tank anything below a fricking missile, you've got a plethora of miniature missiles alongside the wings and back of the suit, M4 assault rifle inside the left arm, a sonic cannon in the right, and see those compartments along the side?"Justin pointed to the sides of the suit up close to the wings, "You've got drop charges baby! Enough juice in them to eradicate any obstacle!"
It wasn't an Iron man suit, no repulsor technology, that, unfortunately Stark had patented already, even if the Jericho was not yet fully in production. But for a first prototype it was already dangerous enough. Once he got his hand on Vibranium…
"Oh, this is so worth it…" Brock muttered, a wild look in his eyes as he reached out and touched one of the wings, "Terror from the skies… I can't wait!"
Someone was excited, and it was Justin! He did a little dance on the spot, before giving the grinning Brock Rumlow a high five.
Justin stepped towards the Scorpion armor, once he'd calmed down, leaving Brock to admire his armor and waving Frank over, "This beauty is built for brutality, a tank could ram you and not even scratch the paint on this thing," He knocked against the armor lightly with his knuckles, "You got arc reactor powered laser cutters in the tail able to cut through steel like butter, if you don't crush them with the weight of that baby. Your arms can electrify to the tune of so many volts that anything you're holding down will be barbecue! This suit can spin a tank on a finger like you're a Harlem Globetrotter, it's the good shit!" Justin said, a manic smile on his face as he stared at his creation. Sure Vanko helped, and he'd totally ripped off actual villains, but it was still his creation.
Months of work, and it was all worth it.
Frank eyed the suit, a gleam in his eyes, "What kind of fire power does it have?" He asked, laying a hand against the Scorpion helmet, his own face reflected in the shiny metal.
Justin grinned rubbing his hands together, "This is just the first prototype, we gotta work the bugs out and everything, so if you got input, we can tinker and add more through testing. For now, it's got 20 miniature heat seeking missiles in compartments on the back of the suit that can be controlled through the suits interface with computer assisted targeting." He patted one of the suit's arms fondly, "You've got M4 assault rifles internally in the arms at the moment, I was also thinking of adding a shoulder mounted machine gun."
Frank nodded distractedly, "Yeah it'll do… When can it take this baby for a test spin?" Brock joined them at that point echoing that request, a wide dangerously sharp grin on his face.
Justin laughed maniacally, waving his arms around, "This facility is your new home, gentlemen, put them through their paces, suggest additions, we'll make you dangerous."
He generally didn't try to act like a regular Sunday cartoon villain, but sometimes it was just so satisfying letting out a proper cackle.
And standing in a secret facility in front of two power suits seemed like the proper locale.
Oh how Iron Man would lose his shit when these two joined the stage literally right after his reveal.
Justin couldn't wait!
＊＊＊
Natasha kind of detested Justin Hammer at this point, she usually didn't have anything personal against a mark, but this time, she really did. She'd figured it would be an easy in and out kind of job, she'd infiltrated way worse after all. What was a corporation against terrorist cells and worse. Well for one, it appeared Hammer Industries took recruitment very seriously. As in it would be easier to get hired at the White House seriously.
She'd tried to get in for a position relatively close to Hammer himself within his headquarters secretarial pool, to dig for information for one, the second objective being catching the man's attention. Businessmen like that were always liable to set their attention on beautiful young women in vulnerable positions working under them. Her SHIELD provided references and resume had never failed her before, her alias pretty watertight for this kind of work.
Yet… Hammer industries hiring process was insane! It wasn't enough to call her references and clarify her work history and who she was - which was easy enough as the references were specifically paid by SHIELD to provide cover with references to agents. No, the recruiter demanded to meet with each reference and be provided examples of her work. They dug into her employment history, her previous apartments, her schooling, they sent someone to check she'd actually lived where her cover said she had throughout her life from birth. At that point the cover began falling apart and Natasha removed herself from the process. Mindful of the fact that at least she'd kept away from showing her face to any cameras when interviewing and her resume photo was slightly fudged to not make her immediately identifiable with a simple change in hair color and glasses making a vast difference. A change in posture and the way she dressed would completely obfuscate another attempt, people weren't very observant.
Guess she wasn't going to go blonde again for awhile though - that had been an abject failure.
No one went that far for simply joining a company headquarters secretarial pool. Natasha pulled in another SHIELD agent simply to test if it was just her and she'd been made - but no, the agent was similarly examined under a lens, going back all the way to childhood. Most SHIELD covers could last through any electronic search and even a robust physical one, but for anything but the most high profile mission - they did not hire people to pretend to have been childhood friends and neighbors, faked physical copies of elementary school records, medical records and the like, it was just not possible for every mission.
Natasha was forced to request exactly that kind of deep cover. Leading to her second attempt to infiltrate the company ranks three months after she'd begun the mission. Fury was not happy. Natasha was even unhappier, Clint was being unbearable at her failure. Even Coulson had made a comment.
Natasha was determined to get this mission over and done with before she'd never be able to look Coulson in the face again. It was just Justin Hammer for crying out loud.
Then, she got rejected. After five interviews, the most comprehensive background check she's seen outside intelligence agencies and a personal meeting with the head of HR, after private investigators had combed through her entire fake persona's life. Everything had looked like she'd finally be hired - then she received the email rejecting her application, stating she wasn't the right fit for the company. Natasha was not usually very emotive, but she'd let out a short scream of frustration at that point. She could no longer try and get into the company because at the fifth level of the hiring process she'd been forced to subject herself to fingerprinting and a retinal scan. Ostensibly because she'd need that for once she was hired, to access certain areas, but also it of course gave the company another avenue to prevent infiltration. She couldn't return under another alias now.
She should have ejected when they asked for the scans, but she was almost in and she let her impatience get the better of her.
She'd been forced to use a third deep cover and change her looks, again. This time giving up on any chance of entering the company. If she wanted to know what Justin Hammer was doing, she'd just have to seduce the man and get in that way. At least this time instead of changing her looks too much, she got to use the tried and tested Natalie Rushman alias. Maybe going more natural would suffice.
Of course that presented another problem that added to her frustration with this mission. The damned frustrating man, (That she really hoped Fury would order dead, once they discovered what he was up to…) Was never in one spot for more than a day! By the time Natasha arrived in New York, he'd be in Los Angeles, by the time she made it there, he'd be in Bogota, then Johannesburg and so on and so on. Everytime SHIELD gave her the man's flight plan, he ended up somewhere else, the man was more paranoid then most SHIELD operatives - his flight plan was never correct.
Finally, today, she'd have him. Hammer industries was throwing their annual charity gala in London, and there was no way Justin Hammer would miss an event that was entirely about him.
If he did miss it, she'd have to throw her hands up and crawl back to Fury. And the idea of it galled her something fierce.
She entered the event center, wearing an expensive black number that left her back bare, a long slit in the leg and barely leaving anything to the imagination visavi cleavage. If she didn't nab Hammer tonight, Fury would have her ass for the expense, the dress cost more then she made in a year. Somehow she didn't think it would be reusable for many missions.
Clint for one would look terrible in it.
They had a pretty decent profile on Hammer, although the last year had thrown quite a lot of it out the window. Natasha had gone with her natural red hair tonight, letting it fall down her back, Hammer was reputedly a sucker for redheads, which worked to her advantage.
To her relief, she spotted Hammer pretty quick, he was actually here. Months of work and frustration finally culminating in tonight's op. And for once not surrounded by bodyguards, likely due to the high profile event having too many guests who'd be uncomfortable with someone so obviously armed.
Natasha was going to settle her frustrations by hatefucking Justin Hammer until he broke his pelvis and fell madly in love with her, and then hopefully she'd get the pleasure of putting two in his skull in a month or two after getting everything she needed out of him.
Natasha ensured her cleavage was on full display, dropped her frustration and anger behind a mask, and approached the man with a mischievous little ballsy smirk on her face. Hips swaying as her high heels clicked loudly against the ballroom floor.
Every report they could get, said he constantly surrounded himself with strong and confident women lately.
Natasha could do strong and confident just fine.
＊＊＊
Justin noticed the Black Widow entering the charity gala with some amusement. She was a definite bombshell, drawing eyes in a designer dress that accentuated her every curve perfectly as she flowed across the floor like sex on legs, dripping sensuality.
All of the rich brats coming to the event with their parents just entered puberty, He thought with amusement, watching a waifish heiress literally stumble in her heels and fall, jaw gaping at the woman slinking past her.
She was playing it very hard, Justin couldn't help but think. Taking a sip of champagne as he surreptitiously watched her, which of course she noticed, her path diverting his way.
He wasn't surprised. She was probably pretty pissed off by now.
Having seen her infiltrate Stark industries in the second Iron Man movie, Justin had figured that she, or someone else from SHIELD, would eventually try the same with him. Especially with all the strange moves he was making.
So he'd gone overboard on the security of the hiring process and the checks on his own employees. Not only to block SHIELD, but equally to stop corporate espionage. Once he was the only name in clean energy and weapons - he could practically print money. So he could afford to 'waste' money on a very intense screening process.
No one got hired - unless recruited personally by him - without a deep intensive background check. Which included hiring private investigators to examine their entire life. Looking for physical copies of everything, and interviewing the people that would have known them, lived next to them, taught them, supervised their first summer job. Everything.
It cost him a bundle, even though only those that passed through the first few levels of interviews got the full experience. A fake cover wouldn't hold up against such a search without being very good.
In Natasha's case, she'd done really well the second time, unfortunately for her, Justin actually knew who she was. So it was easy enough to reject her application once she finally maneuvered past the HR process.
Hammer industries had already fired four employees actively selling information to competitors and stopped seven attempts to infiltrate - whether from intelligence agencies or competitors they weren't sure, but their covers hadn't been deep enough for his new security protocols.
Then there was also letting Domino play darts with the list of new hires, everyone she was lucky enough to hit by completely random throws, were checked over extra thoroughly.
With the London gala being the only event he's guaranteed to be at in the next few months, he'd expected this play. He must have a death wish, but he was actively looking forward to having an enjoyable time and then reveal he knows who she is and thank her for her time - claiming that unfortunately SHIELD agents don't make good girlfriends.
He'd have to make sure there was camera surveillance in the room, her face would be hilarious. If he dared to go through with it. In the end she might actually kill him for that, Black Widow was an apt name after all.
She finally made her way through the crowd, Justin casually swiped a champagne flute from a passing waiter just in time for her to arrive, offering it to her with a charming smile, "A drink? It must be thirsty work making every man and woman here swoon as you pass them by."
The Black Widow accepted the flute and took a sip, humming appreciatively, licking a bead of the liquid off her lips, "Do I make you swoon, Mister Hammer?" She asked, a teasing smirk blossoming onto her face.
Justin chuckled, clinking his flute against hers, "My dear, you'll have to work harder to sweep me off my feet." He grasped her hand, lifting it to his lips, giving it a lingering kiss, "You can call me Justin, Miss?"
"Rushman. Natalie Rushman." Natasha said with a sensual pout, "I'm a big fan…"
Justin grinned, having to work at it to hide the underlying amusement, hopefully Natasha would read something else into it. He laid her hand on his arm, "Well for a fan, the least I could do is escort you, Natalie." He offered.
She of course demurely accepted, leaning into him as they walked.
She was going to be one very disappointed agent.
Bakshi had been nagging him about taking a vacation - what with his constant 24/7 work schedule over the past year.
So, anticipating Natasha's play for this Gala, Justin had completely handed off all work to Bakshi, Vanko and Phantazia. He no longer carried any electronics with any company information or contacts on them, having a simple burner phone for contact with Domino who'd still hang around in his general vicinity as his bodyguard.
For the next couple weeks, he'd vacation around the world, eat at the finest restaurants, stay at the best hotels. Attend the most amazing events. And not once, take a work call or meet any employees.
How very frustrating for the Widow.
At least he'd have such nice arm candy for his imposed vacation.
Even if she'd probably be desperate to kill him by the time he was finished and she'd have to report back to motherfucking Nick Fury with absolutely nothing to report.
Life was good.
＊＊＊